Soldiers and aircraft are positioned on the airstrip at Forward Operating Base Remagen in advance of Operation Swarmer, a combined Iraqi and Coalition operation to clear a suspected insurgent operating area northeast of Samarra. The Soldiers are from the Iraqi Army's 1st Brigade, 4th Division, and the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team, and the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade.U.S. Army photo by Sgt. First Class Antony Joseph

TIKRIT, Iraq - Iraqi Security Forces and their Coalition partners launched the largest air assault operation since Operation Iraqi Freedom I today in southern Salah Ad Din province to clear a suspected insurgent operating area northeast of Samarra.

Operation Swarmer began this morning with soldiers from the Iraqi Army's 1st Brigade, 4th Division, the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team and the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade conducting a combined air and ground assault to isolate the objective area.

Attack and assault aircraft provided aerial weapons support for the operation and also delivered troops from the Iraq Army's 4th Division, the Rakkasans from 1st and 3rd Battalions, 187th Infantry Regiment and the Hunters from 2nd Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment to multiple objectives. Forces from the 2nd Commando Brigade then completed a ground infiltration to secure numerous structures in the area.

More than 1,500 Iraqi and Coalition troops, over 200 tactical vehicles, and more than 50 aircraft participated in the operation.

Initial reports from the objective area indicate that a number of enemy weapons caches have been captured, containing artillery shells, explosives, IED-making materials, and military uniforms.

The operation is expected to continue for several days as a thorough search of the objective area is conducted.

Operation Swarmer follows closely the completion of a combined Iraqi - Coalition operation west of Samarra in early March that yielded substantial enemy weapons and equipment caches.

The name Swarmer was derived from the name given to the largest peacetime airborne maneuvers ever conducted, in spring 1950 in North Carolina. Soon after this exercise, the 187th Infantry was selected to deploy to Korea as an Airborne Regimental Combat Team to provide General MacArthur with an airborne capability.

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